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Conceptual and Empirical Connections between Self-Processes

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A special issue of Behavioral Sciences (ISSN 2076-328X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2023) | Viewed by 37017

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Prof. Dr. Alain Morin

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Guest Editor

Department of Psychology, Mount Royal University, Calgary, AB T3E 6K6, Canada
Interests: self-awareness; self-recognition; theory of mind; fame; self-awareness and self-destruction; development of self-consciousness; neurophilosophy / mind-brain problem

Famira Racy

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Guest Editor Assistant

Independent Researcher, Calgary, AB T3E 6K6, Canada
Interests: organizational psychology; inner speech; self-processes

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Self-processes interact in complex ways that are still poorly understood. For example, it has been repeatedly claimed that self-regulation requires self-reflection, yet the exact nature of this relationship remains elusive and empirical support is sparse. Similarly, a popular claim in the scientific literature is that Theory-of-Mind abilities (thinking about others’ mental states) require self-reflection (The “Simulation” view), yet the specific ways in which self-reflection may lead to Theory-or-Mind are numerous and still debated; further, empirical evidence for this relationship is mixed. Some actually suggest that Theory-of-Mind precedes self-reflection—not the other way. Another issue is the similarities and differences between self-reflection (i.e., introspection) and mindfulness. Yet another problem is the use of different terms all referring to the same construct—for example, the terms self-distancing, decentering, reperceiving, cognitive diffusion, and mindfulness tend to be used interchangeably, which creates unwanted confusion. This Special Issue seeks contributions from specialists who wish to share recent research results and/or theoretical considerations pertaining to various forms of self-directed attention and their interconnections.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

Self-reflection;
Self-rumination;
Self-distancing;
Self-immersion;
Self-concept clarity;
Self-control/regulation;
Mindfulness;
Neural correlates of the above processes;
Cognitive mechanisms and mediating/moderating variables underlying the
above processes;
Individual differences in the above processes;
Well-being and negative emotional consequences of the above processes;
Correlations and regression analyses pertaining to self-processes.

Prof. Dr. Alain Morin
Guest Editor

Famira Racy
Guest Editor Assistant

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Keywords

self-reflection
introspection
self-regulation
Theory-of-Mind
mindfulness
self-rumination
self-talk
self-concept

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Published Papers (11 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 278 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Relationships between Self-Talk, Inner Speech, Mind Wandering, Mindfulness, Self-Concept Clarity, and Self-Regulation in University Students

by Famira Racy and Alain Morin

Behav. Sci. 2024, 14(1), 55; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14010055 - 15 Jan 2024

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3836

Abstract

In this study, the researchers explored novel relationships between the self-related processes of self-talk, inner speech, self-concept clarity, mindfulness, mind wandering, and self-regulation. Using self-report questionnaires (n = 227), we found a small positive association between inner speech use and mind wandering, as well as a medium positive association of mindfulness with self-regulation, in accordance with claims made in the literature. We found a medium positive relationship between mindfulness awareness and inner speech responses, potentially because mindfulness awareness represents an active state of self-focus, requiring verbal self-directed probes. Conversely, the correlations between reports of inner speech use and mindfulness acceptance were medium and negatively associated, perhaps because self-acceptance is a less active process that does not require as much self-directed speech as acquiring self-awareness, or perhaps self-acceptance consists of silencing the mind. Furthermore, the mindfulness-acceptance responses were negatively associated with mind wandering but positively correlated with self-concept clarity and self-regulation (all significant and of medium strength). Another noteworthy result was that mind wandering was negatively correlated with self-concept clarity and self-regulation, in accordance with the view that mind wandering represents a self-escape mechanism and thus impedes the transparency of one’s self-view and efforts at controlling oneself. This study pieces together what has been presented in the literature, examining variables that are typically studied in isolation. Further, these results have implications for the future study of self-regulation in that self-focused attention, self-acceptance, and self-concept clarity may be mediators on the paths between self-talk or inner speech use and self-regulation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conceptual and Empirical Connections between Self-Processes)

25 pages, 888 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Academic Self-Concept Wins the Race: The Prediction of Achievements in Three Major School Subjects by Five Subject-Specific Self-Related Variables

by Detlef H. Rost and Xiaoli Feng

Behav. Sci. 2024, 14(1), 40; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14010040 - 5 Jan 2024

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3095

Abstract

The importance of self-related constructs in predicting academic achievement has been increasingly emphasized in recent decades. Typically, bivariate associations of self-related variables with achievements have been reported. Research quantifying the combined predictive power of more than two self-variables has been scarce. Moreover, except for the academic self-concept, these variables have almost always been measured across domains, i.e., without considering the specifics of individual school subjects. The current study aimed to statistically predict academic achievement (operationalized via school grades) in three major subjects (Chinese (native language), mathematics, and English (foreign language)) by using subject-tied scales, namely academic self-concept, conscientiousness, need for cognition, perseverance of effort, and consistency of interest. The sample comprised 791 Chinese adolescents. Each scale was related separately to each of the three school subjects. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were run. The control variable, biological sex, accounted for 2% of Chinese grades and 8% of English grades, but not of mathematics grades. Adding subject-specific self-concept scales increased the explained variance to 7% (Chinese), 16% (mathematics), and 32% (English). Further additions to the other four self-related scales did not increase the variances that were accounted for. The discussion underlines the relevance of subject-specific academic self-concepts as predictors for subject-tied academic achievements. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conceptual and Empirical Connections between Self-Processes)

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17 pages, 316 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mindfulness, Physical Activity and Sports Participation: Validity Evidence of the Lithuanian Translation of the State Mindfulness Scale for Physical Activity 2 in Physically Active Young Adults

by Migle Baceviciene, Rasa Jankauskiene and Vaiva Balciuniene

Behav. Sci. 2023, 13(10), 820; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13100820 - 5 Oct 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2166

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Lithuanian translation of State Mindfulness in Physical Activity (SMS-PA-2) in a sample of physically active students. A total sample of 539 students from universities and colleges (50.3% men; mean age 23.3 ± 7.2 years) were asked to provide demographical data, report physical activity (PA) and PA habits and fill in measures of trait awareness, autonomous motivation in physical activity, trait body appreciation, trait body functionality appreciation and disordered eating attitudes and behaviours and self-esteem via an online anonymous survey. Students also provided information about their participation in organized team sports, organized individual sports, recreational sports and home exercise. Results. The SMS-PA-2 replicated the original four-factor structure, with good internal consistency (except for the Accepting Mind subscale). Invariance analyses across sex groups revealed an acceptable fit of the configural, metric and scalar models. However, in the multi-group analysis, metric invariance and scalar invariance were not confirmed. The SMS-PA-2 was positively associated with leisure-time PA, PA habits, more self-determined motivation for exercise, trait awareness, trait body appreciation, trait body functionality appreciation and self-esteem. A negative association was observed between the SMS-PA-2 and disordered eating attitudes and behaviours. Home exercisers and students engaged in team sports demonstrated lower levels of state mindfulness in PA than those engaged in organized individual and recreational sports. The Lithuanian version of the SMS-PA-2 is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring state mindfulness in PA. This instrument is recommended for researchers who aim to investigate the role of state mindfulness in the PA in Lithuanian-language-speaking samples of young adults. Future studies should explore the Lithuanian version of the SMS-PA-2 by asking participants to fill questionnaires in immediately after the PA session, and measurement invariance between sexes should be further tested. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conceptual and Empirical Connections between Self-Processes)

29 pages, 845 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Self Course: Lessons Learned from Students’ Weekly Questions

by Alain Morin

Behav. Sci. 2023, 13(7), 525; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13070525 - 22 Jun 2023

Viewed by 1563

Abstract

In this paper, I tentatively answer 50 questions sampled from a pool of over 10,000 weekly questions formulated by students in a course entitled “The Self”. The questions pertain to various key topics related to self-processes, such as self-awareness, self-knowledge, self-regulation, self-talk, self-esteem, and self-regulation. The students’ weekly questions and their answers highlight what is currently known about the self. Answers to the student questions also allow for the identification of some recurrent lessons about the self. Some of these lessons include: all self-processes are interconnected (e.g., prospection depends on autobiography), self-terms must be properly defined (e.g., self-rumination and worry are not the same), inner speech plays an important role in self-processes, controversies are numerous (are animals self-aware?), measurement issues abound (e.g., self-recognition as an operationalization of self-awareness), deficits in some self-processes can have devastating effects (e.g., self-regulatory deficits may lead to financial problems), and there are lots of unknowns about the self (e.g., gender differences in Theory-of-Mind). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conceptual and Empirical Connections between Self-Processes)

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18 pages, 618 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Feelings of Personal Relative Deprivation and Subjective Well-Being in Japan

by Hiroshi Ohno, Kyung-Tae Lee and Takashi Maeno

Behav. Sci. 2023, 13(2), 158; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13020158 - 11 Feb 2023

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4083

Abstract

Personal relative deprivation (PRD) refers to emotions of resentment and dissatisfaction caused by feeling deprived of a deserved outcome compared to some reference. While evidence suggests that relative deprivation based on objective data such as income affects well-being, subjective PRD has been less explored, especially in the East. This study evaluated the relationship between PRD and subjective well-being based on various aspects in the context of Japan. An online questionnaire survey, including the Japanese version of the Personal Relative Deprivation Scale (J-PRDS5) and various well-being indices, was administered to 500 adult participants, balanced for sex and age. Quantitative data analysis methods were used. PRD significantly correlated with subjective well-being as assessed by various aspects. Through mediation analysis, we found that a strong tendency to compare one’s abilities with others may undermine subjective well-being through PRD. The results also indicated that well-developed human environments may be associated with the maintenance of subjective well-being levels, even when PRD is high. Toward developing future interventions to improve well-being and health, efforts must be undertaken in Japan to monitor PRD and further clarify the mechanism of the association between PRD and the factors that showed a strong relationship in this study. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conceptual and Empirical Connections between Self-Processes)

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15 pages, 324 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Self-Consciousness and Self-Awareness: Associations between Stable and Transitory Levels of Evidence

by Maurício Majolo, William Barbosa Gomes and Thiago Gomes DeCastro

Behav. Sci. 2023, 13(2), 117; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13020117 - 30 Jan 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4868

Abstract

The theory of objective self-awareness predicts the assessment of stable or dispositional self-consciousness and transitory or situational self-awareness. The aim of the present research was to investigate potential associations between patterns of experiential self-description to scores on self-report measures of dispositional self-consciousness. A total of 64 Brazilian volunteers (M_age = 29.7, SD = 8.79, 64.1% female) responded to the Revised Self-Consciousness Scale, the Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale, and the Rumination–Reflection Questionnaire before participating in an experience sampling protocol. The protocol consisted of random daily requests for up to four self-description experiences across seven consecutive days. Participants recorded audio messages on their mobile phones in reply to each request describing their current experience. Reports were analyzed through a reflexive thematic analysis that produced twenty sub-themes accounting for descriptive markers of experience. Based on those descriptive markers, the qualitative data were then transformed into quantitative data for the situational self-awareness indexes. Evidence of association between self-consciousness and self-awareness was stronger for the awareness subscale in a positive correlation with affective situational self-awareness and in a negative correlation with mental representational transitory self-awareness. Although relational evidence has been provided, the data reinforced the theoretical distinction between self-consciousness and self-awareness. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conceptual and Empirical Connections between Self-Processes)

15 pages, 256 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Letting Go as an Aspect of Rumination and Its Relationship to Mindfulness, Dysphoria, Anxiety, and Eudemonic Well-Being

by Jesse R. Caswell, Aishwarya N. Duggirala and Paul Verhaeghen

Behav. Sci. 2022, 12(10), 369; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs12100369 - 29 Sep 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3079

Abstract

Background: We examined how a newly proposed facet of rumination, that is, the (in)ability to let go, might relate to other aspects of rumination and to psychological outcomes. Methods: In two independent samples (n = 423 and 329, resp.) of college students, we measured a broad set of rumination and rumination-related measures, letting go, anxiety and dysphoria; in the second sample, we also collected data on mindfulness, self-compassion and eudemonic well-being. Results: Factor analysis of rumination and rumination-related measures yielded three factors: (a) negative intrusive thought; (b) reflectiveness; and (c) the inability to let go. Repetitive intrusive thought and the ability to let go were significant (and thus partially independent) predictors for the three outcomes of anxiety, dysphoria, and wellbeing. The inability to let go and repetitive intrusive thought significantly mediated between mindfulness and all three outcomes. Conclusions: The findings suggest that letting go is a potentially interesting aspect of rumination not fully captured in the traditional concept of rumination and its standard measures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conceptual and Empirical Connections between Self-Processes)

15 pages, 286 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Trait Mindfulness, Self-Compassion, and Self-Talk: A Correlational Analysis of Young Adults

by Jocelyn Grzybowski and Thomas M. Brinthaupt

Behav. Sci. 2022, 12(9), 300; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs12090300 - 23 Aug 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 6610

Abstract

This research explores the relationships between trait mindfulness, self-compassion, self-talk frequency, and experience with mindful practice. We expected to find that positive self-talk would be positively related to mindfulness and self-compassion, and negative self-talk would be negatively related to these variables. Participants (N = 342) were recruited through a university research pool, as well as via social media posting. The participants completed two measures of trait mindfulness (the 15-item Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire and the Trait Toronto Mindfulness Scale), two measures of self-talk (the Self-Talk Scale and the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire—Revised), and the Self-Compassion Scale short form. The results showed moderate positive correlations between (1) positive self-talk and trait mindfulness and (2) positive self-talk and self-compassion. A significant negative correlation also emerged between negative self-talk and trait mindfulness. Additional analyses indicated no moderating effects of mindfulness experience on self-talk or self-compassion in predicting trait mindfulness. We discuss implications for the significance of the relationship between self-talk and mindfulness for the effective implementation in future treatment methodologies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conceptual and Empirical Connections between Self-Processes)

Review

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10 pages, 281 KiB

Open AccessReview

Is Anosognosia for Left-Sided Hemiplegia Due to a Specific Self-Awareness Defect or to a Poorly Conscious Working Mode Typical of the Right Hemisphere?

by Guido Gainotti

Behav. Sci. 2023, 13(12), 964; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13120964 - 23 Nov 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1471

Abstract

This review aimed to evaluate whether the association between ‘anosognosia for hemiplegia’ and lesions of the right hemisphere points to a special self-awareness role of the right side of the brain, or could instead be due to a working mode typical of the right hemisphere. This latter viewpoint is consistent with a recently proposed model of human brain asymmetries that assumes that language lateralization in the left hemisphere might have increased the left hemisphere’s level of consciousness and intentionality in comparison with the right hemisphere’s less conscious and more automatic functioning. To assess these alternatives, I tried to ascertain whether anosognosia is greater for left-sided hemiplegia than for other disorders provoked by right brain lesions, or whether unawareness prevails in tasks more clearly related to the disruption of the right hemisphere’s more automatic (and less conscious) functioning. Data consistent with the first alternative would support the existence of a specific link between anosognosia for hemiplegia and self-awareness, whereas data supporting the second option would confirm the model linking anosognosia to a poorly conscious working mode typical of the right hemisphere. Analysis results showed that the incidence of anosognosia of the highly automatic syndrome of unilateral neglect was greater than that concerning the unawareness of left hemiplegia, suggesting that anosognosia for left-sided hemiplegia might be due to the poorly conscious working mode typical of the right hemisphere. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conceptual and Empirical Connections between Self-Processes)

Other

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9 pages, 230 KiB

Open AccessHypothesis

Self-Consciousness as a Construction All the Way Down

by Massimo Marraffa and Cristina Meini

Behav. Sci. 2024, 14(3), 200; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14030200 - 1 Mar 2024

Viewed by 1454

Abstract

Contemporary mind and brain sciences provide theories and data that seem to confirm a hypothesis about human nature that we might formulate as follows. Human life is conditioned by a need that is no less important than elementary biological needs (such as survival and reproduction) or universal forms of social competition: the need to build and, indeed, defend a subjective identity whose solidity and clarity are the foundation of our intra- and inter-personal equilibrium and therefore of psychological well-being and mental health. In this article, distancing ourselves from a neo-Cartesian position still prevalent in the philosophy of mind and approaching instead the outcomes of contemporary cognitive sciences, we sketch the complex interweaving of the cognitive, emotional, and affective elements that are constitutive of subjective identity, with a focus on the role played in self-identity construction by Theory-of-Mind abilities. We will suggest that, at every stage of self-construction, individuals engage in processes of understanding others that have a largely innate basis. In this perspective, a mature self-awareness is somewhat secondary to the knowledge of others, an evolutionarily refined acquisition primarily serving as a defense mechanism. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conceptual and Empirical Connections between Self-Processes)

12 pages, 285 KiB

Open AccessHypothesis

Why Theory of Mind Is Not Enough to Understand Others?

by María Isabel Sanhueza and Pablo Fossa

Behav. Sci. 2023, 13(1), 12; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13010012 - 23 Dec 2022

Viewed by 2417

Abstract

Theory of Mind (ToM), understood as the ability to intuit one’s own mental states and those of others, has been extensively researched in developmental psychology and cognitive psychology. The psychological literature shows a direct relationship between ToM and the (self) reflective capacity of consciousness, a product of the cognitive effort that implies the understanding of one’s own subjectivity and that of others. In this sense, ToM has received a strong cognitive influence, sub-dimensioning other dimensions involved in the intersubjective process of mutual understanding. Based on the theory of pre-reflective consciousness and the theory of intuition in phenomenology, we propose in this paper that the process of understanding one’s own mental states and the mental states of others constitutes, mainly, a pre-reflective and intuitive experience, and that it is only possible to move on to reflection at a later time. In short, with contributions from the theory of pre-reflective consciousness and phenomenological intuition, the aim is to complement the theoretical bases of ToM in psychology; a theory that, without incorporating elements of phenomenology, remains incomplete. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conceptual and Empirical Connections between Self-Processes)

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